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Summary: Where did THIS come from?
Review: I've read all of Michael Connelly's previous books. They are excellent. His story lines are extremely engaging; his mastery of detail builds a fine foundation; and his character development is compelling, with plenty of depth and breadth. Sorry to say this one is not up to his usual standards. I almost felt like it was a formulaic response to some procrastinated contract agreement. It isn't terrible. If you need to escape in a book for a few hours, this one will do. It's just nowhere near the quality I'd come to expect from Michael Connelly.
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Summary: Nothing microscopic about this blockbuster thriller.
Review: Henry Pierce is a hotshot scientist, focusing on the microscopic world of molecular electronics. His goal is to create a supercomputer the size of a dime (hence the book's title) - and he's about to make a huge breakthrough that will advance the state of the art a long way towards that end.Pierce is distracted, though, by his personal life. He's just broken up with the woman he loved and moved into a new apartment when he starts getting strange phone calls. Apparently the previous owner of the number was a very popular "escort" with a large client list. A visit to her website reveals that Lilly was a stunningly attractive woman and Henry finds himself more than a little interested in her. He can't help but wonder where she's gone. As he begins to pluck at the knot of her apparent disappearance, a complicated plot - along with Henry's life - begins to unravel. "Chasing the Dime" is something of a departure for Connelly, taking the reader not just away from the ongoing life of detective Harry Bosch, but also away from the gritty, noir world that most of his work inhabits. The emphasis in this book is less on the physical and more on the mental. Pierce is a brilliant man and he brings his considerable analytical skills as a scientist to bear in figuring out what is happening. Although "Chasing" may not have the sheer intensity or moral poignancy of the best of Connelly's mysteries, it is still the kind of thriller that keeps your interest piqued, keeps the pages turning, and pays off with a satisfying conclusion.
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Summary: Gripping and suspenseful...A MUST read!
Review: Henry Pierce is starting his life over. After his girlfriend leaves him, Henry moves into a new apartment and with his new apartment comes a new phone number...a number that belonged to someone else. Shortly after his new number is activated Henry begins receiving calls for Lilly, obscene calls from men wanting sex. Anxious to put a stop to the calls, but curious to find out find out more about Lilly, Henry begins searching for information only to discover the young woman mysteriously disappeared and nobody seems to care. Henry sets out on a quest to find out the truth about Lilly and the world she lived in, only to discover a world he's never known. A world of sex, escorts, websites, secret identities, and murder. The deeper Henry becomes involved in this world, the farther he is from escaping it and a wrong decision could cost him his life. 'Chasing The Dime' is one of THE BEST thrillers I have read this year. The plot of a simple wrong number, turns into a terrifying ride of relentless suspense. From page one the reader is held captive in a race against the clock thriller that stuns with every turn of the page. It's fast-pace, gripping plot and creepy underworld setting will keep even the most jaded thriller readers on the edge of their seat. Michael Connelly is the leading writer of crime fiction, as far as I'm concerned, and his on-going 'Harry Bosch' series is about as good as they get. But, when an author strays from writing their successful series, we as reviewers (and fans) become leery if the novel will be any good, well that is not the case with Mr. Connelly...three of his best novels are NOT part of the Bosch series, 'The Poet', 'Blood Work', and now his newest novel 'Chasing The Dime'. Any reader not tempted to stay up all night to finish this novel is much stronger than I am, because I stayed up well into the night to finish it. 'Chasing The Dime' will rocket up the best-seller list's, and prove Michael Connelly a master of the thriller/crime genre. A MUST read! Nick Gonnella
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Summary: "A wonderfully written book to lose yourself in"
Review: I do so enjoy this writer and all of his books. "Chasing The Dime" by Michael Connelly is another really good story. If you are into page turning mysteries than this is definately the novel for you.
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Summary: contemporary updating of the classic North by Northwest
Review: Henry Pierce obtains a new phone number that the scientist quickly sends out to his business contacts and scientific peers. However, he soon receives calls from individuals asking for Lilly and her escort service. He concludes that Lilly is a high priced call girl peddling her wares through her number placed in cyberspace except those phone digits now belong to Henry. From his molecular research work, Henry is used to doing things so he seeks out Lilly to get her to remove the number from her homepage. However, Lilly apparently has vanished, which reminds Henry of his sister who turned hooker before being murdered. Unable to resist, Henry begins a search for Lilly that leads to the police and some nasty individuals chasing after him. As he applies deductive and inductive reasoning to his situation, Henry realizes his paranoia proves valid not to trust anyone. Hitchcock fans will enjoy this contemporary updating of the classic North by Northwest due to the action and clever twists and turns. Henry makes a wonderful Roger Thornhill as he struggles with the truth that never seems to be out there. Readers will briefly wonder why a brilliantly logical person like Henry failed to just obtain a new number even if he knows it's a pain to inform his associates of the change and feels guilty over his sister's death. Still, fans will gloss over that as the delightful thriller stars an intelligent nerd landing in one predicament after another using sound reasoning to stay alive for the moment. Harriet Klausner
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Summary: A poorly written page turner
Review: "Chasing the Dime"... By page 86, I believe I counted at least eight references to the title. I guess the author wanted a reason to call this book "Chasing the Dime".
"Chasing the Dime", admittedly, is fast paced and holds the reader. But it's a lightweight piece of junk, and after reading it you'll feel the way you do when you cram down a half bucket of KFC. I have never read any of the author's other books, and after this one I won't be looking for more.
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Summary: Not his best, but a decent effort
Review: Being a huge fan of Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch series, the few books he wrote that didn't feature the popular detective, to me were not his best work. Maybe that's just my bias though...Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy this novel, just not to the same extent. It just felt like it was missing the magic. In this book Henry Pierce is a chemist who owns a computer technology company that is working on a modern day innovation to the computer world that would have huge consequence. In the midst of his life-changing discovery, his longtime girlfriend leaves him, putting him in a bit of a tailspin. Always being a workaholic, but now knowing he has noone to come home to beings to affect him. This makes him react to a random wrong number to his phone in a very odd way. Suddenly he's getting wrong numbers in the multitudes for a girl named Lilly, who is obviously a hooker. Finding the mystery of who is Lilly and what has happened to her irresistable, before he knows it Henry is tangled up in a mess he may not be able to get out of alive. Still, risking his career and company that he's worked his whole life for- is something he's willing to do. It's an obsession. I do agree with some of the other reviewers in asking the question WHY Henry puts everything on the line for this woman he has never met. However, I do think the book goes at trying to explain that to some degree- whether you buy it or not. I did enjoy the character of Henry, finding him fascenating. And for at least over half of the book the story was pretty thrilling, keeping you wanting more. However, there were a few slow periods, that I think could have been fixed with editing. All in all, I'd say this book was worth the read, but if you really want to get into a great Connelly novel to also read Blood Work (the only non-Bosch book I truly enjoyed), Lost Light or The Last Coyote. Really- any Bosch novel you pick you can't go wrong!
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Summary: Bosch takes a vacation
Review: It really says a lot about an author like Michael Connelly when he writes a book that I would probably put among his least interesting, yet it's still a great read. His latest, "Chasing the Dime," is one of the few books that doesn't revolve around his main character, Detective Harry Bosch, so the reader doesn't have as much invested in the characters here. Still, it's a fun ride, albeit a slightly implausible one. Henry Pierce is the young founder of a company that is racing against the competition to come up with the world's smallest computer (or something like that, I tried not to concentrate too much on the technical details). Anyway, he gets a call at his new apartment for a woman named Lilly. Then another. Then another. Apparently his number used to belong to her. Instead of just changing the number, the adventurous Pierce sets out to find Lilly, who is apparently missing, in trouble, or both. Of course, he gets in way over his head with online prostitiution, organized crime, and a lot more. All the while he has to prepare for a presentation with a big investor who can potentially sink millions into Pierce's company and make him the next Bill Gates. As a stand-alone, Bosch-less Connelly book, this is pretty good. Not one of his best, but definitely a nice little page-turner. The computerese is interesting and I'll have to take Connelly's word as to the accuracy level. But I do miss Harry Bosch.
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Summary: And your point was . . . ?
Review: A friend lent me this book, and I just don't know why. I didn't buy the premise, found the characters unsympathetic, and was waiting for someone to grab the protagonist by the shoulders and tell him to get a grip. This is my first encounter with Michael Connelly. It would have been my last, but after reading some other comments, I think I'll try a book that features Harry Bosch. I'd also encourage other first-time Connelly readers maybe to do the same and avoid this one.
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Summary: Unconvincing
Review: Somehow a novelist has to convince the reader that the events described in the tale could or did happen. This is extremely important in a mystery/suspense/spy/action book. The writer utterly failed to do that here. Yuppie genius, Henry Pierce, on the brink of wealth and worldwide fame (dare we hope, a Nobel Prize?), receives some calls for a prostitute named Lilly on his new phone and rather than get his number changed, he races off to find Lilly and "save" her. Bah, humbug. His reason is that his own sister was a runaway, years ago, and was murdered because he failed to help her. This is supposed to be the psychological motive, I suspect. If one can accept that premise, the rest of the book is all right, I suppose, even if it is populated with several of the characters from "Pulp Fiction." Paranoia, I might add, is too facile in creating suspense. It has been used and abused in too many other works of fiction. Ludlum was/is probably the master of the art. That's why I quit reading Ludlum a few years ago. I couldn't tell one book from another. Pierce comes to suspect and distrust everyone, his business partner, his ex-live-in, his secretary, etc. It got a little tiresome, and when he finally got to the real villain, I no longer cared very much. I'll try another Connelly book, but I have misgivings after this one.
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